1. Session 6 Diglossia Bilingualism/multilingualism Code-switching
4/16/2017
Sociolinguistics
Diglossia
Bilingualism/multilingualism
Code-switching
AL608 Sociolinguistics

2. Session 6
4/16/2017
What is Diglossia?
Term originally introduced by Charles Ferguson (1959) (based on Marçais )
A case “where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play” (Ferguson 1972:232).
AL608 Sociolinguistics

3. High and Low varieties H (“High”) is the prestigious form
Session 6
4/16/2017
High and Low varieties
H (“High”) is the prestigious form
L (“Low”) is the non-prestigious form
Alternate terms:
Acrolect = H
Basilect = L
Acrolect: The variety of speech that is closest to a standard prestige language, especially in an area in which a creole is spoken. For example, Standard Jamaican English is the acrolect where Jamaican Creole is spoken.
Basilect: The variety of speech that is most remote from the prestige variety, especially in an area where a creole is spoken. For example, in Jamaica, Jamaican Creole is the basilect whereas Standard Jamaican English is the acrolect or prestige language.
AL608 Sociolinguistics

4. Each variety has distinct functions
Session 6
4/16/2017
Each variety has distinct functions H
Sermons
Formal letters
Speeches & lectures
News broadcasts
‘High’ poetry
AL608 Sociolinguistics

5. Each variety has distinct functions
Session 6
4/16/2017
Each variety has distinct functions L
Conversation with family & friends
Radio serials
Sports broadcasts
Political cartoons
“Folk” poetry
etc.
AL608 Sociolinguistics

6. Examples of Diglossia Region/Country H L Switzerland Standard German
Session 6
4/16/2017
Examples of Diglossia
Region/Country H L
Switzerland
Standard German
Local Swiss German dialects
Middle East
Classical Arabic
Local Arabic dialects (Iraqi, Moroccan, Egyptian, etc.)
Greece
Katharévusa (‘puristic’)
Dhimotiki (‘demotic, popular’)
Haiti
French
Haitian Creole
Tamil Nadu
Literary
Colloquial
AL608 Sociolinguistics

7. Characteristics of Diglossic situations (1)
Session 6
4/16/2017
Characteristics of Diglossic situations (1)
Function:
H – formal use, L – informal use
Little overlap in functions
Prestige:
H has higher prestige than L. H is more elegant and more beautiful
L is inferior to H, and is not appropriate for any formal usage.
Literary Heritage:
Generally, H has the greater literary tradition
AL608 Sociolinguistics

8. Characteristics of Diglossic situations (2)
Session 6
4/16/2017
Characteristics of Diglossic situations (2)
Acquisition
L is learned
H is taught
Standardization
H is standardized through dictionaries, grammars, etc.
L may be less standardized or not at all (may or may not be codified).
Grammar
Grammar of H is usually more complex;
Grammar of L is usually simpler
AL608 Sociolinguistics

9. Characteristics of Diglossic situations (3)
Session 6
4/16/2017
Characteristics of Diglossic situations (3)
Lexicon
Most of the vocabulary is shared by both varieties.
Some terms may occur in one variety but not in the other
Phonology:
Usually the same, but H may be more conservative and resistant to change.
Stability
Diglossia can be very stable, if H and L each has its own range of functions.
AL608 Sociolinguistics

10. Question
If someone were to tell you that diglossia is but a simple reflection of the social, cultural, or political oppression of a people, how might you answer?
How ‘diglossic’ are classroom situations in which children who come to school speaking only a regional or social variety of English well removed from the standard variety are taught the standard variety and its various uses, particularly its use in writing?

11. Would you say that diglossia is found in Chiang Mai? Why or why not?
Is there a form of diglossia in your home community? Why or why not?
Are there any signs of diglossia breaking down? What are these? Are people concerned about these changes?

12. For full details: http://colfa.utsa.edu/tillery/notes.html
Session 6
4/16/2017
The history of English in the three centuries after 1066 is of considerable interest. The Norman Conquest established Norman French as the H variety and English as the L variety. What caused English eventually to triumph and French to be eliminated from use in England (except as a clearly marked ‘foreign’ language)? Where did Latin fit into the overall picture?
For full details:
AL608 Sociolinguistics

13. Bilingualism and Multilingualism

14. What is multilingualism?
Session 6
4/16/2017
What is multilingualism?
Personal level--how many languages can an individual communicate in?
National level--how many languages are in use in a particular country?
AL608 Sociolinguistics

15. “How many languages do you speak?”
Session 6
4/16/2017
“How many languages do you speak?”
L1: the first language, the “Mother Tongue”
L2: a second language
L3, L4, …
We’ll use “bilingualism” to cover bi-, tri-,
multi-lingualism
AL608 Sociolinguistics

16. The Mother Tongue (L1) Origin the language one learned first
Session 6
4/16/2017
The Mother Tongue (L1)
Origin
the language one learned first
Competence
the language one knows best
Function
the language one uses most
Attitudes
the language one identifies with or is identified as a native speaker of by other people
AL608 Sociolinguistics

17. Definitions of Bilingualism
Session 6
4/16/2017
Definitions of Bilingualism
Weinrich (1957)
alternate use of two languages
Haugen (1959)
ability to produce complete and meaningful utterances in two languages
Hymes (1964)
knowing the appropriate way of speaking in a particular situation
what a speaker “must learn about a group’s verbal behavior in order to participate appropriately and effectively in its activities.”
AL608 Sociolinguistics

18. Types of Bilingualism

19. Simultaneous vs. Successive
SIMULTANEOUS BILINGUALISM:
Two languages acquired before the age of 3
SUCCESSIVE BILINGUALISM:
Two languages acquired, one after the age of 3

20. Additive vs. Subtractive
ADDITIVE BILINGUALISM:
L2 is acquired in addition to L1
SUBTRACTIVE BILINGUALISM:
L2 replaces L1 (Lambert 1967)
additive bilingualism: When learning a second language does not interfere with the learning of a first language. Both languages are developed. This can be contrasted to subtractive bilingualism.
subtractive bilingualism: When learning a second language interferes with the learning of a first language. The second language replaces the first language. This is commonly found in children who emigrate to a foreign country when they are young, especially in cases of orphans who are deprived of their first language input.  This can be contrasted toadditive bilingualism.

21. Balanced vs. Dominant BALANCED BILINGUALISM: DOMINANT BILINGUALISM:
Equal competence in both languages
DOMINANT BILINGUALISM:
Greater competence in L1 or L2
the stronger is said to be dominant
BALANCED BILINGUALISM:
People who are able to use their two languages equally or with equal levels of proficiency are sometimes referred to as balanced bilinguals.

22. Compound vs. Coordinate
COMPOUND BILINGUALISM:
Primary cognitive activity is in L1
COORDINATE BILINGUALISM:
Cognitive development is in both languages (Fishman 1965)
Example "While she was raised to speak English, her new position in Miami, Florida would require she use the Spanish she had learned, rendering her a coordinate bilingual five days a week." Source: Psychology Dictionary
 Compound Bilingualism: Here, the person learns the two languages in the same context where they are used concurrently, so that there is a fused representation of the languages in the brain. This is the case when a child is brought up by bilingual parents, or those from two different linguistic backgrounds. This is additive in nature.
Coordinate Bilingualism: In this type, the person learns the languages in separate environments, and words of the two languages are kept separate with each word having its own specific meaning.

24. Active vs. Passive ACTIVE BILINGUALISM: PASSIVE BILINGUALISM:
the person can both speak and understand L2
PASSIVE BILINGUALISM:
the person can only understand L2

25. Example: A Thai Trilingual
Session 6
4/16/2017
Example: A Thai Trilingual
Sudrutai Arunsirot writes:
I can speak 3 languages. They are Northern Thai, Central Thai and English. I have spoken Northern Thai since I was born. When I was five years old, I began learning to speak English and Central Thai. So my bilingualism can be classified as successive, additive and active. My competence in speaking Northern Thai is stronger than the others. So it is said to be dominant.
AL608 Sociolinguistics

26. Question
The term bilingual is used in describing countries such as Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland (also multilingual in this case). What kind of bilingualism (or multilingualism) is this?
A speaker of English who wants to learn another language, particularly an ‘exotic’ one, may find the task difficult. Speakers of that other language may insist on using what little English they know rather than their own language, and there may also be compelling social reasons that prevent the would-be learner from achieving any but a most rudimentary knowledge of the target
language. What factors contribute to this kind of situation?
How might you seek to avoid it?

27. Is it possible to have a society in which everyone is completely bilingual in the same two languages and there is no diglossia? How stable would such a situation be? Some communities regard bilingualism as a serious threat; it has even been referred to as a ‘Trojan horse,’ initially attractive but ultimately fatal. Why might this be so? (Consider the experience of migration and also the sorry state of many minority languages in the world.)

28. Code Choice in a Multilingual Context
Session 5
4/16/2017
Code Choice in a Multilingual Context
AL608 Sociolinguistics

29. A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Session 5
4/16/2017
A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Interlocutor
Role relationship
Interlocutor - in·ter·loc·u·tor  
Who are you speaking with?
Role relationship
How are you related to the person you are speaking with?
AL608 Sociolinguistics

30. A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Session 5
4/16/2017
A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Domain
Topic
Domain
The environment where the communication takes place
Topic
What topic do you plan to discuss?
AL608 Sociolinguistics

31. A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Session 5
4/16/2017
A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Venue
Channel of Communication
Venue
Where will the discussion take place?
Channel of Communication
With the conversation be face-to-face, by phone, or ?
AL608 Sociolinguistics

32. A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Session 5
4/16/2017
A Multilingual’s choice of languages is determined by…
Type of interaction
Phatic function
Type of interaction
Formal business interaction as opposed to informal conversation?
Phatic function
Does the speaker wish to convey a special effect, e.g. dramatic? Used to share feelings or to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas.
AL608 Sociolinguistics

33. Session 5
4/16/2017
“Code switching”
Monica Heller 1988 “the use of more than one language in the course of a single communicative episode”
Carol Myers-Scotton 1993 mentions “the use of two or more languages in the same conversation.”
Gumperz (1982) defines code-switching as “the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems” (p. 59).
AL608 Sociolinguistics

34. Situational and Metaphorical
Blom and Gumperz (1972) distinguish two types of code switching:
- Situational code-switching is related to a
change in situation, for instance, when a new participant joins the activity, or a change in the conversation topic or setting.
- Metaphorical code-switching is often used as a conversational strategy to enhance or mitigate conversational acts such as requests, denials, topic shifts, elaborations or clarifications.

35. Question
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have code-switched or code-mixed?
When you visit a foreign country whose language you know either well or poorly, when do you use that language and when do you not? What factors
govern your choice?